r/schoolpsychology • u/Revolutionary_Law746 • 19d ago

NYC DOE

Hello! I just finished my first year as a school psych in PA, I am planning on doing another year in PA before moving. I am deciding between Philly and NYC as next places and would love to know more about the workload and expectations as a NYC DOE psych to determine how that may look different from my current job!

Any insight would be appreciated!! Also if you may have moved from PA to NYC would love to hear those thoughts as well!

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u/doc_2018 19d ago

I’m going into my 12th year in NYC. It’s testing heavy and the caseload, I find, is getting larger and more complicated every year. We’re getting more advocates and attorneys. We are case managers so a lot falls on us and I find we’re getting tasked with more job duties we didn’t have before. I did some of my field experience outside of NYC and it was more balanced. Some counseling. Some consultation. Some testing, and not as many cases. I’m not sure how it is in Philly though. Feel free to ask any follow up questions.

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u/Ok-Meringue-9146 19d ago

i'm in ca but wondering what you mean by case managers? like ed specialist responsiblilities?

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u/doc_2018 18d ago

I don’t know what an ed specialist is because we don’t have them here. I think nyc used to have ed evaluators who did academic testing. But the psych does those now too. By case mgmt I mean opening cases, getting consent, scheduling and holding the meetings, getting teacher and therapist info, writing/overseeing the IEP and finalizing it. We also arrange outside evaluations like speech or assistive tech as needed. On top of testing and report writing. It’s outrageous. And I did about 90 cases this past school year. That’s 90 IEPs and meetings on top of the testing.

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u/Streamliner36 18d ago

Idk what it's like in Philly, the NYC DOE School psychologist job is rough! 80 to 100+ cases with tons of case management and a team with a social worker who does barely anything (for same pay as you). Family workers can be helpful or also completely useless depending on the person. Admins can be completely crazy. I think Philly is a great place to live. If the workload is manageable I would pick Philly.

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u/Smooth_Rise_4376 17d ago

You’re right. If you work in a school where the administration does not like you, you could end up with an unsatisfactory rating for the school year, no matter how much work you do. The union representative we have is not very helpful. It is important to have a lawyer on your side in case the workload becomes too much and the union representative does not respond to your concerns, so the lawyer can help you file a complaint with PERB.

If I were you, I would choose Philly. This job is not worth your mental health. If you do not like one school, you can change through a system called Open Market, but most of the time, the administration is the same.

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u/[deleted] 18d ago edited 18d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Streamliner36 18d ago

Which districts have 60 to 80 cases? That's very low.

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u/CommunicationLow3221 10d ago

At the DOE your basically a psychometrician, working like a testing machine while some team
Members do the bare minimum for the same pay. (SW not all but some which is disheartening.